


You'll Be Okay

by Typically_Numb



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gunshot Wounds, Hurt Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-07-30 06:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20093053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Typically_Numb/pseuds/Typically_Numb
Summary: Peter Parker was distraught after May's death, but Tony was there for him, he always was.Or: Peter fails to take care of himself on multiple accounts and Tony is there to clear up the mess and bring the boy home.





	1. The Death

**Trigger Warning: This chapter is relatively gruesome and ultimately doesn't effect the storyline all too much. It involves an accidental gunshot wound and death, if anyone would like to skip this chapter then it's alright.**

* * *

Peter slipped in through his bedroom window and gently dropped onto the floor. He pressed the Spider emblem on his suit and awkwardly shuffled the now loose fabric to the ground, finally he threw on some pajamas and walked to his door.

He had promised May after she found out that he was Spiderman that he would come home early from patrol at least once a week so they could hang out, this meant that today was pretty uneventful. He helped an old man with his shopping, walked a kid home after scaring off their bullies, and took photos with two fans.

Just as Peter's hand reached the door knob the hairs on the back of his neck rose and he ducked, mere seconds after he did so; four bullets hit the door right where his head had been.

He threw himself onto the floor and grabbed his old web shooters that weren't attached to his suit. He snapped them on and aimed at the open window but nothing was there.

Slowly getting onto his knees, a sudden thought dawned on him and he scrambled to stand up whilst swinging the door open. "May!?"

Stepping out into the hallway, Peter kept his fingers hovering just above the triggers of his web shooters and kept them held out in front of him. He carefully walked into the kitchen and could have broke down right then and there at the sight he found.

There on the floor on her knees was aunt May, a gun pointed at her head and her hands no doubt found behind her back. She cried out when she saw him which earned her a slap to the cheek.

Only now did Peter acknowledge the three men in the room. One held a pistol to May's head, another aimed a machine gun at Peter himself and the other was spinning a knife between his fingers.

"Ah Parker, so nice of you to join us." The one with the knife spoke. He was stood in the middle of the two others and was right behind May. The most distinguishable feature Peter could see was that he was bald and possibly in his late forties. "Now drop your web shooters and your pretty Aunt can stay unharmed."

When Peter didn't move, just stared at May the man put a knife to her throat with the blade brushing the tender skin. "Did I not make myself clear enough?"

Peter took off the weapons in question without looking and carelessly tossed them at the man with the pistol's feet.

"Good, see what happens when you cooperate?"

"I'm- How- Why- How do you know who I am?" Peter found himself stammering out.

"Ah well, you see your buddy Tony Stark hasn't exactly kept your so called internship on the down low. Talks about you a lot, he seems fond of you. Which is why if his little intern goes missing I'm sure he'll do anything, pay anything, to get him back." Badly explained.

"You're sick." Peter spat with venom before he could stop himself.

Badly pressed the knife harder to May's throat, leaving and angry red line "Ah ah ah..." May whimpered. "I'm sure you wouldn't want us to hurt her."

Peter could beat these men and save may, he knew he could. He's sorted out hostage situations before, but somehow seeing May in that position with fear glazing her eyes just froze him to the spot.

An idea struck him and he tried hard not to alert the men to his sudden movement before slowly pressing the panic button on his watch. 

"Good boy. Now, what we're going to do is you're going to come with us and we'll leave auntie here alone. Sound good?"

Peter wanted to scream; this was wrong, he was supposed to protect May, this wasn't supposed to happen.

He nodded his head and held out both hands together in front of him.

His action seemed to trigger something in May because she suddenly lurched forwards, screaming "No! Peter don't go with them! Not for this! Ple-" 

Her pleas were cut short by badly grabbing her her, yanking her back and roughly shoving the knife to her throat which drew blood.

"Hey! You said she wouldn't get hurt!" Peter took two steps too many and all hell proceeded to break loose.

The man with the machine gun panicked and fired at random in Peter's general direction, Peter himself was lucky enough not to be hit, May however..

The one with the pistol jumped at the sudden commotion and accidentally pulled the trigger.

May slumped sideways onto the machine gun guy like a puppet with their strings cut. The guy dropped the machine gun and jumped away with a curse on his tongue.

Badly stepped backwards "Shit.. We weren't meant to actually kill her!" After a second's panic he grabbed his men's shoulders and pushed them out to the door.

Peter, who had stood frozen since the gunshot fell to the ground, his knees giving up on him at last. He shook May uselessly and pulled her up onto his knees. 

His ears rang as he cradled her limp body, so loud that he didn't even register the while of repulsors nor did he hear someone storm in from his room.

He just felt numb.


	2. Tony's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Essentially Tony's version of the last chapter, kind of short.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was my first chapter, this is the second one. That's how it works, right? Idk, I've done this before but I'm tired. Ignore this.

It had been nine in the evening when Friday alerted him of a signal from Peter's panic button being sent out. Tony immediately responded, he ran from his lab without a second thought and called his suit to him.

After Tony had given Peter the panic button he'd strictly warned him that It was only for emergencies and threatened that he would team up with May to ground him if he used it otherwise.

That's why once surrounded by the nano tech he flew from the window as fast as the suit would allow him, leaving a half asleep Pepper stood confused and calling after him.

It wasn't long before he was hovering outside Peter's open bedroom window and could hear gunshots. 

He got in as quick as possible but it seemed he was too late regardless.

There Peter was, cradling a limp Aunt May in his arms. Blood was soaking into the kid's pajama shirt and he didn't move.

Tony stepped out of his suit and walked to Peter. He reached his hand out and placed it on his shoulder only to be thrown onto his back a second later.

Peter had turned around and now Tony got a clear view of him. There were fears streaking down his cheeks and dripping down his shirt. Yet still despite this, his angry demeanour immediately dissolved into concern when he saw.. "Tony?"

That was all he needed in order to stand up and throw himself at the kid, hugging him close. The way Peter's voice cracked at the end, the way Peter sounded like a scared seven year old, the way Peter said Tony instead of 'Mister Stark.'

Tony held him close and forced him to look away from the body, soon enough he felt hot tears soak his neck and shirt but couldn't bring himself to be angry. He just wanted Peter to be okay. "Shh, it's okay, you're alright, shh." It was most definitely not okay and Peter was definitely not alright but he didn't need to think of that. 

* * *

The funeral was held six days later. Peter sobbing into Tony's neck just like he had six days beforehand, Tony shushing him and telling him it was okay just as he had six days before hand, the whole world feeling like it was crumbling away from both of them just as it had six days beforehand.


	3. Coping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is trying to cope after Aunt May's death but he doesn't exactly have the best tactics. He'd internalized his feelings about Uncle Ben so as to not stress May out but now that she was gone too he doesn't know what to do.

_Gunshots echoed in his ears, his vision swam, he could smell the coppery air of blood, could taste the bile at the back of his throat, his legs felt like jelly. He kept blinking in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. _

_Blink - He was on his knees, Aunt May's bloody corpse strewn across them._

_Blink - He was gripping May's body and sobbing into her shirt. _

_Blink - The material he was crying into had changed and it took him a second to register the smell of motor oil and coffee. Tony._

_Blink - He was standing over May's casket, she was lain neatly as if she were merely asleep._

_Blink - He was alone in a dark graveyard._

_Blink - A hand shot up from a grave._

_Blink - Aunt May's rotting corpse pulled itself towards him._

_Blink - He couldn't move. It was getting closer._

_Blink - It grabbed his ankle and suddenly the ground fell out from beneath him._

_Blink - He screamed as everything went black._

Peter shot up in bed, panting and grasping at the sweat soaked collar of his t-shirt. Barely a second later Tony swung the door open and rushed towards him.

"Friday told me something was wrong, are you okay?"

Peter swallowed thickly and the pushed the covers off. "I'm fine, just nightmares." He stood up and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Tony questioned as he stood up.

"I doubt that I'm going back to sleep plus I have school in two hours so breakfast." Peter responded nonchalantly as if it were routine.

Tony just stood frozen, he felt like he should say something but Peter seemed so used to this that he was just confused "If you ever want to talk, you know I'm here right?"

Peter stopped just before his hand reached the handle and turned around "No offense, Mister Stark, but it was almost four months ago." He turned back to the door "I'm fine." He added finally before walking into the hallway and disappearing.

He headed to the kitchen and climbed up to sit on the counter. In all honesty he didn't know why he snapped at Tony; the guy had already taken custody of him and was only trying to be nice.

Sighing, Peter grabbed a glass and opened the fridge with his foot, after pouring some apple juice he put the carton back in the fridge and closed it again.

He didn't actually know why he was in here, he felt too sick to eat anything. Maybe he was just waiting for Tony to have made some distance from his room so he could avoid interrogation.

After nightmares like these Peter would usually go on patrol until he needed to be ready for school but Tony had already caught him to talk once and would no doubt be checking up on him.

It wasn't even the fact that he didn't appreciate the care because he did, he just didn't fancy sharing his feelings, didn't want to be seen as the weak child in the Avengers that everyone needed to protect.

Peter pushed himself off of the counter and chugged his glass, leaving it in the sink once he was done, he finally started heading back to his room.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he found his room empty and began his routine. Fining some clothes in his wardrobe and taking them to the bathroom with him so he could shower.

After he was finished, emerging from the room fully dressed in a plaid button down with a jumper over the top and smelling sweetly of cinnamon, Peter walked to his desk and shoved the homework he'd finished last night into his backpack.

Peter had at least an hour if not more until he needed to leave for school, Happy would always drive him to the subway and then pick him up from school after the day was out. He fished his phone out and sent a quick text.

_ **Chat: Happy and Peter** _

_ **Peter: Hey Happy, you don't need to pick me up from the compound today.** _

_ **Peter: That sounded suspicious, it's because I'm catching a ride from Ned.** _

_ **Peter: It's Peter btw.** _

** _Peter: Parker._ **

****Scrolling over the chat Peter felt only a little bit bad for the spam and for how easily he found it to lie to Happy but honestly? The man probably didn't care whether it was a lie or not, as long as he had less work to do.

Peter snapped on his webshooters and walked towards his window before suddenly thinking of something. Once again he grabbed for his phone.

** _ Chat: Spiderman's Best Friend and Crashed Flash's Car Once.  
_ **

** _Crashed Flash's Car Once: Ned stop changing my name._ **

** _Crashed Flash's Car Once: If Mr Stark or Happy questions you can you tell them you gave me a lift to school?_ **

** _Crashed Flash's Car Once: I'll explain why at school if you want, since I need to put my phone away._ **

** _ Crashed Flash's Car Once had changed their name to Peter Parker.  
_ **

** _ Spiderman's Best Friend has changed Peter Parker's name to Peter Man. _ **

Sighing, Peter put his phone in his bag and zipped it up before throwing it onto his back and stepping up onto his window sill. He climbed down the wall using his sticky ability and dropped to the ground outside.

It was different to swinging on buildings but eventually Peter was able to manage with lamp posts and trees, it wouldn't take him too long to get to Queens and then not much longer to get to the subway.

That is of course If he avoids distractions.

Just has Peter swung into the city and began walking like a normal human being, he heard a shrill scream and immediately began running towards the source.

He slowed his pace and poked his head into an alley way. Up against the wall was an elderly woman with a young child behind her, five men were blocking their only way out and as far as Peter could see most of them if not all of them were armed.

What was he doing? He couldn't do this. Spiderman could but right now he was Peter Parker, ordinary Peter. He didn't have time to slip his suit on. 

Peter worked quickly with what he had, snatching his mask from below his books and webbing his backpack to the wall. He pulled the mask on and walked as confidently as he could into the alleyway.

"Come on guys, seriously? I have school, you couldn't have waited until maybe four or five in the evening? Or maybe never."

The five of them spun around and stared at him, they were all masked with different variations of ski masks but their weapons were far from cheap.

The one on Peter's far left broke the silence by snorting "Something wrong with your suit, Spidey?"

"No actually, I was on my way to school but you lot had to make me late."

Keeping his eyes trained on the one he was speaking to, Peter shot a web at the guy in the middle who had started to creep forwards with his gun aimed. He shot to the floor and got stuck there, writhing in the sticky webbing.

"Come on, there's five- four of us and one of you. Do you seriously expect us to fight a kid?"

"Hey I'm not.." Peter stopped himself as he noticed his cracking voice "Oh come on dude, I didn't wake up that long ago."

He shot a web at the one he was speaking to's gun and yanked it towards himself, now everyone seemed to unfreeze themselves and go into action. 

Peter jumped over all of them and put himself between the two victims and the four attackers. 

In the end, the fight was fairly easy, none of them seemed all that well trained. Once he had the remaining four webbed up to the walls, he was just about to turn towards the victims again when he heard the girl shriek.

He spun to see what was wrong but was immediately met with excruciating pain in his lower abdomen. Looking down to see where it'd come from, he saw the first man he'd webbed up with almost half of his left side unstuck. He was using that freedom to send a knife into Peter's flesh.

The man took the knife back out and Peter added six extra coatings of webbing to his restraints out of panic. 

He pressed a hand to his wound and winced at the burning that spread up his torso and down his hips. "Go, go somewhere safe and call the cops to deal with them.." Peter told the old lady before collapsing to his knees.

The sound of hers and the little girl's footsteps echoed in his ears as they ran out of the alley way. His head spun dizzily as he attempted to keep himself upright.

Ripping off his mask as he began to feel suffocated and hot, Peter shoved it under his shirt and jumper and against the sound. He let out a strangled noise at the sudden burning yet again.

He needed to pull himself together, he wasn't weak, a Captain America could take a stab wound and walk it off like it was nothing. Couldn't he?

Peter stood up and listed sideways almost instantly, he fell against a wall and lifted up his clothing to get a look at the damage. There was a lot of red dripping from the wound at a rapid pace. A lot of red that should be inside of him.

In the state he had to work with, Peter began to form what seemed like a plan in his head. He's use his webs to put pressure on the area while he goes the pharmacy to pick up some bandages, that should be fine.. Right?

It sounded great in his head so he started to follow it. He used his mask as a cloth and webbed that against his stomach, surprised at the fact that he didn't feel ask much pain as before. Maybe his healing had kicked in.

Oh how wrong he was.

Stumbling his way out of the alleyway he grabbed the spare hoodie out of his backpack and made a quick switch to that from his jumper, careful as to not agitate his affliction.

He slung the bag into his shoulder and walked towards the pharmacy, his winces getting less and less as he walked on. 

The pharmacist gave him a weird look as he paid for the bandages but soon he was on his way to the subway station with his abdomen securely bandaged up and his confidence already rising back up. His advanced healing should take care of the rest.

Surprisingly enough the fight hadn't taken too long and Peter could still catch his train, before long he was running up the steps to Midtown High school.

He caught up to Ned who was waiting at his locker and began sorting out his books for the day. "Peter we have PE second period. Second period! They couldn't give us a few hours, maybe the entire day, maybe our entire life times to try and wake up first?"

Peter smiled "Hello to you too, then." He shook his head and closed his locker, heading off to English with Ned right by his side. 

* * *

"So I was hoping maybe you could come round to mine tonight and we could watch some movies? Since we haven't done that in a while." Ned suggested as he leaned across the desk to whisper in Peter's ear.

"Sounds good, I'll have to ask Tony first." Peter responded, not really giving it much thought. Patrol didn't even come to mind.

* * *

The bell rang and they all headed out to PE, getting changed and immediately starting to jog around the track. Peter always slowed hid pace to 1: Keep talking to Ned. And 2: Make it look like he wasn't finding this the easiest thing in the world.

But today he really didn't need to try to do it. He broke out in a sweat only quarter of the way around the track and already started to feel like his limbs were jelly.

It wasn't until they got to the real stuff that Peter actually started to get concerned. He was halfway through the monkey bars when his abdomen suddenly roared with agony and he was forced to drop down. He gritted his teeth to force himself not to yell out and just moved on.

They were doing obstacle course work today, which was usually Peter's favourite subject in PE if you could have a favourite subject in PE and still be sane.

He was working his way to the top of the climbing rope, climbing way higher than suggested just because he knew he always could. 

Peter had just reached the top and was about to start figuring out his way down when suddenly his vision swam, his ears rung and he lost gripping on the rope.

It's a strange feeling. Falling. The way your stomach dips, the way you feel nervous energy bubbling in your chest, the way you feel almost peaceful as you fall, the way the passing air whips at your face.

It's all fun and games until you hit the ground.

The moment Peter hit the hard safety mat he felt the air be knocked out of his lungs. He hadn't even noticed that his eyes had closed but when he forced them open he wished that he hadn't. 

His vision was tinted black at the edges and blurry all over, several faces hovered above him but he couldn't recognise any of them.

He could hear someone talking to him but their voice sounded far away and yet it echoed as if he should be able to hear it.

Pain was beginning to spread from all over his torso. At first it was just his back but then his abdomen erupted in agony and he twisted onto his side to curl up around the pain.

A couple of people jumped away at his unexplained movement, or was it whatever they were talking about?

He still couldn't make out proper sentences.

"-s that..."

"Blo-"

"Why's-"

"-eeding?"

"There's- bloo-" 

Bloo? Blood? Why was their blood? Was he bleeding? 

His eyelids fluttered as his vision kept moving in and out of focus, he felt so tired. Couldn't everyone just leave him alone to nap?

"-eter? Peter!" He heard someone tell.

Suddenly a new face appeared In front of his own and something told him that he should recognise this face but he couldn't match looks to name.

There was a distant clicking noise and he opened his eyes further in order to see the person clicking fingers in front of his eyes.

"Hey hey- ...n't sleep. Don't sleep.. -eter."

Don't sleep? "But 'm t'red..." Peter managed to respond, his voice barely reaching his own ears.

Two things happened then. Something went to his wrist and pressed down on his.. Watch? His watch. Something else pulled his arm away from his stomach.

"-overed In blood."

Peter whimpered and furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't understand what was happening or why everything hurt. Something, a hand, went to his neck and squeezed comfortingly.

He felt calmed by that and, despite the white hot pain In his abdomen, he closed his eyes and felt everything melt away from him. Even the pain.

"Peter no!"

"-eter... Op.. You're ey... -s."

"-ake up!"

He didn't understand why everyone sounded concerned. He was just going to take a quick nap.


	4. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony confronts Peter about the injury and how he went on with his day with it, Peter doesn't take it all too well.  
This chapter is more lighthearted than my previous chapters but just you guys wait.

**Tony's POV**

Running into the school gym, Tony wanted to be sick at the sight he found lurking around the corner. There was a huge crowd in the left side of the gym around the obstacle course, at first he was confused as to why Friday had guided him here until he had made it far enough into the crowd to see what they were looking at.

Being Tony Stark, everyone made a path almost immediately and just stood there gaping at him. Flash was frozen to the spot in pure shock. Tony didn't give any of them even the littlest bit of attention, only staring at the person on the floor.

Peter was curled on his side, his head pulled up onto Ned's knees and his arms wrapped tightly around himself. He looked like he was peacefully asleep, besides the growing red spot on his shirt.

Tony rushed to Peter's side, shoving the teacher aside with zero care. "Peter? Peter say something. Peter talk to me." He took Peter's face in his hands and choked down a worried sob "He's freezing cold, how long has he been unconscious?" He asked, already calling his suit to him.

Flash began to shuffle his phone out of his pocket to take a photo of Peter with Tony but quickly put it back when he saw the glare that Tony levelled him with.

The teacher started working when he noticed the awkwardness. He stood up and started waving his hands "Alright everyone, back up, back up. Give them some space. I can see you Johnson, put that phone away."

Ned gently lifted Peter up to rest on Tony's knees before standing up "I- I don't know, I'll go get him a b- blanket." He stuttered and bolted off towards the doors, luckily the nurse's office wasn't too far from the gym.

Peter stirred ever so slightly at the movement, his eyebrows faintly furrowed and his arms tensed around his abdomen for a few seconds before he went completely limp once again. Tony leaned over and hovered his ear above Peter's nose and mouth, all whilst placing two fingers underneath his jaw to check for a pulse.

"His heart rate is week and he's barely breathing." Tony announced out loud, more to himself than anyone else. He just had to keep repeating to himself that at least he was breathing and at least he had a heartbeat, that's all that matters, he is still alive.

Ned came back around the same time as his suit arrived through the window, so Ned bundled Peter up in the blanket while Tony surrounded himself with the nano tech. 

He knelt on one knee and attempted to gently lift Peter into his arms; the boy frowned again and groaned, still not opening his eyes, but Tony took it as a good sign. At least he wasn't comatose.

Just before Tony could fly out through the window, Ned tapped him on the shoulder "Uh.. Stark, sir, could you... Call me? When Peter wakes up. I just want to know if he's okay."

Tony vaguely contemplated ignoring the kid and flying out the window but he looked so desperate and Peter would probably murder him if he let his best friend worry, "Sure kid."

And with that, Tony jumped out of the window with Peter cradled in his arms.

**Peter's POV**

The first thing he noticed was cold, he felt absolutely freezing and within seconds he was shivering and his teeth were chattering. The next thing he noticed was when he opened his eyes, everything he looked at was blurry and it took him a while to blink his eyes into focus.

He was on a bed, the entire room had that weird chemical smell of hospitals, everything was extremely plain and white.

He looked around the room and jumped when he suddenly saw Tony next to him. He was asleep with his arms crossed onto the bed and his head lain on top. 

"To-" Peter stopped at how hoarse his voice was "Tony.." He croaked out, gently nudging him in the arm. The man jolted up and immediately looked towards Peter.

"Thank god you're alive." 

Peter was taken aback and frowned "Why wouldn't I be?" 

"Oh I don't know, maybe the stab wound you decided to hide from me?" Tony switched from relieved to lecture mode in a matter of a few seconds.

Peter chewed his lip and looked down "I can explain-"

Tony interrupted him "Yeah you better be able to."

"Look, Mr Stark, I appreciate the care but you don't need to be aunt May for me just because she's gone. I get that I messed up but just stop, I don't need it." Peter sat up and heaved himself out of bed, he winced at the burning pain in his abdomen but ignored it as he stood up.

Tony didn't say anything as he watched Peter rip out his IV and leave the room.

Peter instantly went to his own room and locked the door, he changed his clothes and picked up his phone.

_ ** Chat: Spiderman's Best Friend and Peter Man ** _

_ ** Peter Man: Hey Ned, could you pick me up from the compound? I'll explain why later** _

_ ** Peter Man: And why I needed you to lie earlier ** _

_ ** Peter Man: Also yes I am alive ** _

_ ** Spiderman's Best Friend: Okay I'll be there in around half an hour ** _

_ ** Peter Man changed their name to Peter. ** _

_ ** Spiderman's Best Friend changed Peter's name to Rebel Teen. ** _

_ ** Rebel Teen: Ned I swear to god. ** _

Shoving his phone into his pocket and smiling to himself slightly, Peter sat down at his desk and began writing his Biology essay. 

* * *

By the time Peter got Ned's message saying he was a street away and to meet him there, Peter had finished three pages and was halfway asleep on his desk.

He opened the window, relishing for a second in the fresh air before dropping out and swinging on a lamp post. He repeated the same swinging routine that had gotten him to Queen's this morning, tree - lamp post - run. 

Peter could see Ned's mum's car in the distance when suddenly his abdomen erupted in pain and he dropped his web, and rolled a few times on the ground before he came to a stop and just panted.

There was the noise of a car door slamming and footsteps before Ned's face appeared above his "Taking a nap, dude?" he asked jokingly before holding his hand out to help his friend up.

With Ned's help he hauled himself up and after Ned got in the driver's side of the car he got into the passenger side. "So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong." Peter responded almost the second he heard Ned start his sentence.

"You and I both know that's complete bullshit, you're sneaking out of the compound at six in the evening, no sane person would sneak out of the compound at any time." Ned responded like the absolute fanboy he is. 

Peter sighed and sunk in his seat "I'd just rather not talk about it..."

Ned seemed to get the memo and started driving "Are you going to tell me why you needed me to lie this morning and why you needed me to pick you up right now?"

"Earlier I just didn't really feel like socialising so I decided to swing to school, now I kind of had a bit of a one sided argument with Tony and I again didn't want to socialise." Peter explained, pushing himself further into his seat and angling himself towards the window.

"You can drop me off by the park if you want, I'll just change into my suit and-"

"Oh hell no, you are not ditching me for Spiderman. We are having a sleepover." Ned interrupted.

Peter looked at Ned desperately "There's no way I'm getting out of this, is there?"

"Nope." Ned answered, popping the p and grinning.

"Oh dear god." Peter said but he was smiling.

* * *

Five minutes into building a pillow fort in Ned's living room, Peter got a phone call from Tony. He shuffled out of the fort to the corner of the room and sat awkwardly with the phone buzzing in his hand.

He knew he should pick up and that Mr Stark would be extremely angry and/or worried if he didn't but something just stopped him from picking up, freezing him to the spot.

Eventually it just stopped ringing and few minutes later he got the notification that Tony had left a voicemail.

_"Hey kid, look I know you're still angry at me and honestly I understand. I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to replace May..... It's okay if you don't want to talk to me, I noticed the locked door but could you just give me a little sign that you're alive in there? See you, kid."_

Peter stared at the phone for several long minutes before he got the idea to put his phone in his pocket and leave it alone, Tony didn't sound too worried. He'd make sure to text Tony once he's cheered up some more.

Crawling back into the pillow fort, Peter grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it at Ned who had his back turned to Peter as he worked on getting the TV to cooperate.

Ned turned around with the most mock offended expression he was able to muster before he lurched towards the popcorn and grabbed some "Oh it is on, Parker!" He threw some directly into Peter's curls just because he knew it'd be a pain to get out.

And that is how five minutes later they were collapsed on the floor; Peter laying on top of Ned and sipping an apple juice box; popcorn all over the floor, stuck to their clothes and hair; and watching Star Wars - A New Hope.

And that is how five minutes later neither of them noticed the frantic repetitive calling on Peter's phone.

Not much later they were both asleep and Ned's parents got a photo that should be framed. Peter was still sprawled across Ned's legs, Ned was awkwardly hugging one of Peter's arms, both of them were snoring loudly.


	5. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's nightmares are getting even worse to the point where even Ned is now concerned about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit sweet, it's hard not to write sweetness when seeing Peter happy is adorable.

_Peter wandered around the woods at random, gazing at the nature surrounding him._

_In the distance, standing out amongst all the greenery, was Aunt May in a bright white summer dress._

_He broke off into a run towards her, tripping over his own feet. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in her comforting scent of vanilla and ginger._

_"This is your fault." A raspy voice spoke from right above his head._

_Peter slowly detatched himself and looked up, stumbling backwards and landing on the ground at what he saw. Aunt May was no longer alive and smiling at him. She was a skeleton in dirty rags._

_He shuffled on the floor before dragging himself up and running in the opposite direction. <strike>This isn't real, this isn't real.</strike> He forced himself to keep repeating._

_Not looking where he was going, Peter crashed into something that he immediately mistook for a tree until he got a full view of.._

_Uncle Ben? Peter took a wary step towards the man and just stared._

_"Have I got something on my face? Come here." Uncle Ben opened his arms wide and smiled warmly._

_Peter didn't wait a second to throw himself at him, rushing out multiple cases of "I'm sorry," "I should have been there," "I should had saved you."_

_Uncle Ben didn't respond, didn't say a word._

_And Peter didn't see anything wrong with it until he felt a wet sensation on his chest, he drew back and gasped at the blood stain growing on Uncle Ben's shirt._

_"No.. No Ben, Uncle Ben please." Peter stretched out his arms and his knees buckled just as Uncle Ben fell like a puppet with their string's cut._

_He squeezed his eyes shut and only opened them when he heard a gurgling noise. He could no longer see Uncle Ben but instead his rotting corpse covered in mud and grass. "You killed me."_

_Peter threw himself into standing and started at the corpse as he began to feel hot tears streaming down his face "I'm.. I'm sorry, Ben please. I-"_

_He choked a sob and turned away, eyes widening when he saw that he was no longer in the forest but instead a clock tower. Gwen Stacy's body hanging from a web._

_"Gwen.." Peter mumbled, not even able to go to her as his entire body was frozen to the spot._

_"You killed them, you killed them all and now you're killing me."_

_Peter recognised that gruff voice, "No.. Tony not you too..." He turned around and saw Tony staring at him, not even looking phased by the knife sticking out of his chest. _

_"No.. No please."_

"No, Tony- No!" Peter hauled himself up, smacking something hard with his forehead and wincing as his abdomen throbbed.

He looked around to see Ned rubbing his nose and sitting beside him "Are you okay? You- You weren't waking up and you were mumbling."

Peter gulped and scratched his head "Yeah.. Yeah I'm fine, I'm sorry for hitting you." He tried to non-suspisciously change the subject.

Ned rolled his eyes but nodded "I'm alright, you didn't know I was right above you." He paused before handing something to him "Your phone has been ringing for ages."

Peter took it and looked at the notifications; gaping at the twenty three missed calls from Tony, five from Happy and fifty messages from an unknown number which was probably still one of them.

He gingerly pressed call on Tony's contact and held the phone to his ear. It rung three times before Tony picked up and Peter had to yank it away from his ear as he heard an instant "Where the fuck- uh hell- were you!? We were so worried and you weren't picking up, I couldn't track you because Karen said you weren't in your suit. Even Happy tried calling and texting you-"

"Mr Stark.. I'm sorry, I'm at Ned's. I shouldn't have snuck out but I was stressed." Peter stopped Tony in his rambling and crossed his fingers.

There was a long sigh on the other side of the call before a much calmer voice responded with "I'll pick you up in twenty minutes, be dressed. See you soon, kiddo."

And with that, Tony hung up, not even giving Peter a chance to argue. Peter just stared at his phone in shock before slowly looking towards Ned who seemed as surprised as him.

In fifteen minutes both of them were dressed and eating cereal on the sofa, silently waiting for Tony to show up.

In seventeen minutes Peter was sat there aiming cheerios into Ned's shirt while the boy stared distractedly at his phone "Apparently Mr Stark called MJ.."

Peter dropped the handful of cereal he had and choked on the few pieces he had in his mouth "H- He called Em... MJ?" He managed to get out.

In nineteen minutes they heard the rev of an engine and Ned said goodbye to Peter at the door.

In twenty minutes exact, Peter was sat in the passenger seat of one of Tony's personal down-low cars with Tony himself in the driver's seat. Peter was just bracing himself for a yelling lecture.

"I'm sorry kid. I dont want you to think I'm trying to replace your Aunt, I know how much she meant to you. But I do care about you so you've got to work with me here, I've never done this before." Tony spoke without looking at Peter as he put the car in drive and began working his way away from Ned's house.

For a few minutes Peter didn't answer, just stared out of the window. "I know.. I'm- I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have snapped and run off like that. I just... I don't know whats going on."

Tony glanced at him "Grief, kid, I know it's been months since... You know.. But it's going to hit hard." He paused for a second before he reached over and ruffled Peter's hair, drawing back at the stickiness and stray pieces of popcorn "Okay scratch school, you're coming home to shower and then we are going out for some fun."

Peter didn't bother arguing, he grimaced slightly at the thought of missing a day of school but one relax day couldn't hurt, right?

* * *

After his shower Peter was dressed in his sweatpants and oversized periodic table shirt, he towel dried his hair and put on his black trainers.

Now he was sat on the kitchen table reading Harry Potter as Tony bustled around attempting to make edible lunches. "I don't know how Pepper does this, I usually set the bar at 'will it poison me?' " As Tony had said five minutes in.

A lunch box was thrown into his lap, landing perfectly on top of his book. He took it off and closed the book before looking up to see Tony grinning at him, he couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks Mr Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes "You _can_ me Tony, you know?" He turned his attention to Peter's book before snatching it up "Nah uh, we are not doing this whole introvert thing. You are having some fun."

Peter pouted playfully and pushed himself off of the counter "But Mr Stark, the 'whole introvert thing' is fun!" He reached for the book which Tony just held above his head.

"Come on, leave the house the house for a bit. Have some fun, don't leave me hanging." Tony was the one pouting now.

Peter really didn't fall for the pouting or what Mr Stark obviously thought were puppy dog eyes but the man seemed desperate "Fine, okay, okay I'll go."

Tony's expression lit up and he put Peter's book on the counter "Come on, come on." He pushed Peter by the shoulders out of the doorway.

Once out of the compound the pair made their way to one of Tony's lower grade cars. Happy was already in the driver's seat, apparently haven been dragged out just as Peter had.

But at least Happy had the closure of knowing where on earth they were going, Peter was just stuck in anxious curiosity. Tony kept reminding him that he was going to love it but then again, Tony had a much different definition of fun than Peter.

Wherever they were going it was a long drive and half way through Tony decided Peter could take off his seat belt and lay comfortably because the boy was beginning to get fidgety.

So Peter cheekily layed his legs on Mr Stark's lap and propped himself up on his own car door, his hoodie shoved behind him to make it more comfortable.

"You couldn't have turned the other way around? You're going to get dirt on my jeans." But Peter could see how happy Tony was that he was relaxed enough to do even that.

Peter fell asleep not long after, his head lolling against the window everytime the car went over a bump.

* * *

"Happy, Happy no. Come on he's chilled out, Happy!"

Peter woke up to Mr Stark's voice having a go at Happy and his Spidey senses alerted him too late of what kind of person Happy is.

A few seconds later Peter was sprawled on his back on the ground, his feet still hooked inside the car where Mr Stark was staring at him and clearly trying (and failing) to not laugh.

He turned his head up to see Happy looming over him, not even trying to contain his laughter. Peter wanted to be angry but the situation was genuinely funny.

Peter twisted his body until he could stand up and cross his arms like a pouting toddler at Happy "I. Am. Offended."

"Get used to it, kid, Happy's a dic- mean person to the people he likes." Tony said as he walked around the car. "Anyway.. Look!" He held Peter's shoulders and turned him around to look in front of him.

'The Museum Of Science' Glared down upon them in bold letters. Peter spun to look at Mr Stark, excitement shining brightly in his eyes "No way!" He said, mouth left hanging agape in shock.

* * *

About an hour or two later, the trio stumbled out of the museum with lazy smiles plastered across their faces. All of them tired.

Peter was clutching a new advanced sciences book which Tony didn't know if he should be amused about buying, of course the kid would buy the nerdiest thing possible.

In the car Peter laid across Tony's legs again, this time with his head on his lap and his legs pressing against the car door. Tony struggled to hide his smile at that.

Peter fell into a peaceful sleep not long into the car ride, an action he'd regret later.

* * *

Peter awoke later and almost instantly his head erupted in pain unlike any headache he's ever had. He felt trapped and his body was twisted uncomfortably.

He groggily opened his eyes and was faced with the back of the driver's seat pressed right up against his nose. He began to push himself up but his leg protested agonizingly, he cried out and tried to catch his breath.

Trying again, he pushed himself up out of the footwells and onto the seat. He glanced beside him and saw that Mr Stark's seat was empty, the front was the same.

He looked down to his leg and cringed when he saw the weird angle it was angled at. "Mister Stark! Mister Stark? Happy?" He didn't get an answer, not even a grunt.

Peter completely missed the growing red spot on his lower abdomen, too busy trying to figure a way out of the car. His door was jammed by a tree so he would have to get over to Mr Stark's.

His leg screamed at him the entire time but eventually he was on the other side of the car and ramming his shoulder into the door. He tumbled out when it opened and landed flat on his face, yelling out when his leg flared up again.

Black spots danced dizzily across his vision and his head spun at the sudden pain, he groaned as he forced his eyes open. His abdomen was throbbing now but then again so was the rest of his body, it was his leg he was most concerned about.

He shivered at the cold and pushed himself up against the side of the car, he could probably get up and limp someehere, surely they hadn't found themselves that far away from the museum?

The second he stood up he lost control, his entire body listing sideways and his stomach doing flips. He held onto the side of the car to catch himself and straightened up.

Looking around, it didn't take him long to spot something laying in the middle of the road, even less time for him to realise it was Mister Stark.

Easing onto his injured leg at first, Peter stumbled towards Mister Stark but soon broke off into a messy speed walk. His knees collapsed just as he reached the body.

His hands shook as he fumbled for a pulse, two fingers underneath Mister Stark's jaw. He held his breath as he waited for just a small sign that he was alive.

Peter sighed with relief when he felt the faint thrumming against his fingers. He continued his checks, hovering his hand above Mister Stark's nose and mouth and nodding when he felt his breaths.

He couldn't see any blood besides the small scratches on Tony's forehead and the tiniest bit on the back of his head, he couldn't see any breaks in the man's bones, he could see the arc reactor still glowing under his shirt.

So he just seemed to be unconscious but otherwise fine. Peter's guess was that he came out here to find Happy and passed out from hitting his head and moving around too quickly afterwards.

Peter sat with his legs stretched in front of him next to Mister Stark after having checked him over for a cell phone. There might have been one left back in the car but he was feeling too tired and in pain to even attempt going back over there.

He thought they would be safe where they were sat, anyone driving on the road would see them since there were no corners, until he began to smell gasoline.

Panic set in and he struggled to his knees, pulling Mister Stark close to him as he tried to stand up. He had to get the both of them away from the car as quick as possible.

But said action was harder than he thought, it wasn't that he found Mister Stark heavy because he didn't, he had super strength for a reason. Putting pressure on his leg was getting harder as time went on and his abdomen really was not helping.

So trying to limp across the road while pulling a fully grown man with you was definitely going to be hard. Peter thought he was doing pretty well despite his situation, until.

He heard it before he felt it, a loud bang followed closely by the smashing of glass and groan of metal being compressed. Then he felt a force shove him off of his feet and tumbling across the ground.

Peter heard his head smack against the ground when he landed, his leg erupted in white hot pain and his stomach screamed at him with a similar throbbing.

He had let go of Mister Stark just before he hit the ground in an attempt to stop himself from accidentally injuring the man.

When he stopped rolling he could barely move, everything hurt and his head would not stop spinning. He had his back turned to the scene but he didn't think he could turn around if he tried.

The black that had once teased his vision was now white and almost swallowing his sight completely. He felt sick, he could barely see, his ears were ringing, he could taste bile rising in his throat, he smelled smoke.

Right now a nap sounded like the perfect thing, when he was asleep he didn't have to deal with all the pain and worry. He could feel his body shutting down with exhaustion and peacefully closed his eyes, thankful to just let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay maybe I kind of lied, the end of this chapter was not sweet.  
I was going to end with some closure but I'm mean so have this cliffhanger.


	6. The Fine Art Of Bullshit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony wakes up and the first thing he sees is Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically Tony has woken up after the explosion and he's witnessing what happened next.  
This chapter is so shit, I'm sorry.

Tony forced his eyes open and grimaced, everything was far too bright. Turning on his side, he was trying to steer himself away from the burning gaze of the sun but what he saw instead was probably far worse. 

There on the ground, sprawled on their back like an abandoned rag doll, was Peter. Even from afar Tony could see that his eyes were closed. He pushed himself onto his knees and despite the pain pulsating through his skull, he crawled towards the far-too-still body.

He slid his arms underneath Peter's back and picked him up, cringing at how limp and flimsy his body was. He rested him against his knees and leaned over to check the boy's breathing. It took a second but he could hear the ragged breaths rattling his chest, for now that was enough. His pulse was weak but it was there and it showed that he was alive.

Tony was almost scared to attempt to look for injuries but he knew that if he didn't, Peter could be in serious danger. He felt gently under the boy's head and his eyes widened when his hand came back bright red. Looked down at where Peter had been laying and cursed at the faint puddle of red that he somehow hadn't noticed before.

"Shit kid, what happened?" He asked, as if the teenager could simply respond. He pulled off his jacket and placed it under his head while he checked everywhere else. 

There was a growing wet spot on Peter's abdomen so Tony slightly lifted his shirt, there where Peter had been given stitches was almost a gaping hole leaking blood. "You can't just do things the easy way can you, Peter?" Although he didn't exactly know what the 'Easy way' would be, probably not bleeding out from more than one area. The torn stitches seemed to be a worse situation than the head so Tony took the jacket and placed it against the steadily bleeding wound.

Moving further, Tony found a break in Peter's knee where it was turned at an awkward angle. With no way to stabilise it, he just had to leave it and hope that his fast healing didn't heal the bones wrong.

He didn't really know what to do, when he first woke up Happy was missing and Peter was unconscious in the footwell. He hadn't really been thinking straight so instead of helping Peter or checking if he was okay he left the car in search for Happy. After a few steps his stomach dipped and he suddenly got extremely dizzy, he didn't really remember much since he fell.

Looking behind him the car had clearly exploded from what he guessed was leaking gasoline while he was unconscious and Peter had gotten out on time and from where he woke up it seemed as if Peter had dragged him away, after that the movement was probably the force from the explosion.

He knew he had left his phone in the car because his pockets were completely empty, checking over Peter he also knew that he didn't have a phone either. He could try to carry the kid to the nearest gas station but one, clearly he wasn't in good condition himself from the fact that he passed out after a few steps. Two, he didn't know how near the nearest gas station was.

His head was beginning to throb against from all the thoughts racing through it, none of them quite making much sense. He just wanted to lay down and nap but he knew better than that. 

So he sat there; making regular checks on Peter's breathing and pulse, promptly checking every time the boy made even the faintest noise which sadly wasn't that often. After a while Tony began to get worried, Peter hadn't woken up for god knows how long and he was starting to feel blood soaking through his jacket.

The sound of a siren in the distance alerted him to the faint presence of an ambulance, he sat up and looked around. He had completely forgotten that they were laying in the middle of the road since they had taken a back route instead of the highway. Two minutes into trying to hoist Peter into his arms he realised that he would just have to hope that whatever car or vehicle in general that came down here would see them.

His hopes were fulfilled when an ambulance came round the corner and stopped before them, two paramedics jumping out. In the rush of it all, Tony didn't have the time nor the chance to remember that Peter can't be taken to a normal hospital. All he cared about was Peter's chances of surviving this.

A man walked up to them and knelt down in front of the both of them "Before we put him onto the stretcher are there any problems or injuries we should be alerted of?" He asked, ready to slide Peter onto the backboard so he could be lifted onto the gurney.

"He-" Tony stopped and cleared his throat, he had gone so long without water or talking that his throat had gone dry. "He has a broken leg, torn stitches from a previous injury on his abdomen and his head is bleeding." He recited.

"Okay. Jocelyn please fasten the leg brace while I grab the backboard." The man moved out of Tony's view and was replaced by a woman who gently fixed Peter's knee into place so it wouldn't be jostled during transport. Then the two of them, with Tony's help, gently slid him onto the back board. 

Once strapped on he was placed on the gurney and wheeled into the ambulance. "Okay sir, your name is?" The woman asked when he used the man for support in standing up. 

"Tony, Tony Stark. Not to be rude but I'm pretty sure you already know that." Tony said, finding the question dumb and useless when they could be getting Peter to the hospital.

"And you are his?"

"I'm his adoptive parental unit and the only adult he knows if he wakes up so will you let me get in the ambulance so we can get going?" He snapped, glaring up at them. The pair looked relatively shocked but promptly helped him in and closed the doors. 

"Are there any of your own injuries that you are aware of?" The man asked whilst the woman, Jocelyn, made mandatory checks on Peter.

Tony considered the question for a second before shaking his head. "Only that my head hurts like a killer." He eventually responded.

The rest of the journey was much of a blur, the paramedics kept asking him questions ("What's the boys name?" "Age?" "Any allergies to medical remedies?" etc) but Tony practically only answered them with one word answers, he was too focused on Peter even though with paramedics around he would be fine if anything happened.

"Can I use your phone? There's someone I need to call." Tony asked.

The man handed him his mobile phone, already on dial. Tony called Rhodey and hoped for the best. Long story short, they were overriding the system to allow Tony's personal medical team who know of Peter's mutation access to the hospital in order to help Peter instead of usual hospital staff.

* * *

**Peter's POV**

The way Peter knew he was awake was the instant pain the radiated in his skull, he groaned and tried to reach up but his arms felt heavy. He managed to open his eyes for a second, scrunching them shut at the bright light above him. 

Then he heard a muffled "P'ter?" His eyes flew open and his head shot to the side. Sat in a chair next to him was Mister Stark himself, looking half asleep and extremely uncomfortable.

In that moment of time he got a good look at the room around him: The white and plain walls, the beeping of machines, the medical equipment, the bed he was lain in. Not to mention the distinct smell of hospitals. However this wasn't the compound's med bay.

Peter forced himself to sit up despite the pain in his head and the throbbing from his abdomen and knee. "Mister Stark I can't be here, what if-"

The man had sat up and sorted himself out the second Peter started talking and put his hand on the kid's shoulder "Calm down kiddo, I got permission to allow my medical team to work on you seeing as you couldn't make it to the compound."

Peter furrowed his eyebrows but sunk against the pillows behind him, feeling tired now that his mini panic was over. "What happened?" He could see that his knee was fixed in a cast, could feel that his abdomen was bandaged and by the tight feeling around his forehead so was his head.

Now it was Tony's turn to frown "Peter what do you remember?" He looked genuinely concerned, he pulled forwards towards the bed.

He sat there for a second, staring straight in front of him instead of at Mister Stark. "I remember.." He paused, chewing his lip. "I remember.." Peter gritted his teeth. "I had with Ned and then.... And then I woke up in a crashed car, I- I think I found you? Everything from there is blurry."

Tony didn't know whether to sigh with relief or to be worried. Peter clearly hadn't lost all of his memory: He knew who Tony was, knew that he was Spiderman and knew bits of what happened. But then again, neither of them could remember what happened between Peter finding Tony and Tony finding Peter.

"That's okay, well done kid." Tony resorted to, smiling sadly and patting Peter's shoulder. He would test him more later, right now he needed to find Bruce and tell him the kid's current state.

When Mister Stark stood up and made his way out of the room without saying a word as to what he was doing Peter was again confused but he decided not to say anything, the man was surely busy.

He didn't know why he couldn't remember what happened; Mister Stark seemed disappointed when he gave his answer, whether it was disappointed in him or disappointed of the situation he also didn't know.

Peter didn't mean to, he honestly didn't, but after about three minutes of Mister Stark leaving the room he began to feel tired again and his eyelids started to drag. He felt really cold and found himself pulling the blanket around him and curling his fists into it before he fell asleep.

* * *

**Tony's POV**

Tony bolted into Peter's room the second he heard commotion from the staff room and Bruce sprinted out, Tony was the first one to make it in but froze in the hallway at what he saw.

Peter was laying on the bed, his back arched, convulsing violently. His eyes were rolled to the back of his head and horrible choking noises were coming from his throat.

He knew that he should be over there, helping him but he couldn't move. Bruce shoved past him and came to Peter's side, pushing him into recovery position and gently lifting his head. "Tony go get a cloth, run it under cold water and bring it to me."

Tony hated that he found it easier to follow orders from Bruce rather than immediately go to help his so- Peter, but at least it gave him something to do.

He reached into one of the cabinets and grabbed a cloth, speed walked to the sink and ran it under the cold tap before handing it to Bruce who padded it over Peter's forehead and the back of his neck.

"I need to give him an anti-convulsant, take my position so I can get the needle and medicine, make sure he doesn't pull out his IV by accident." After some shuffling Tony was in Bruce's position while he ruffled through the cupboards.

Peter's seizure wasn't dying down and Tony couldn't help but panic when blood dribbled down onto his hand where it was under his cheek. "B- Bruce.. Bruce he's bleeding."

Bruce didn't pay him any more attention than a glance, he inserted the needle into Peter's IV and pushed down the plunger before coming round the other side of the bed and holding the boy's mouth open. "It's fine, he just bit his tongue."

It took a few minutes bur soon Peter was no longer shaking and merely looked asleep in Tony's arms. He adjusted the kid so he was laying comfortably by his side, because he was deciding right here that he was not leaving this kid alone again. "What the _fuck_ was that?"

Bruce looked worn out but he pushed his hair back and straightened up "His fever was too high and it began to effect his brain, causing it to swell and cause a seizure. I don't know why it rose so quickly but we knew he had one already." He sighed. "It shouldn't happen again as long as there's someone watching him for now."

Tony nodded, having claimed that position himself. He placed his hand on Peter's forehead and vaguely cringed at the heat still radiating off but it was surely not as bad as earlier.

"Tony are you alright? How do you feel?" Bruce asked "Peter wasn't the only one injured and you wouldn't let anyone get a proper look at you."

"How do you think I feel, Bruce? I just watched Peter have a seizure when just hours before he was geeking out with me and Happy." Tony sighed and rubbed his face. "Physically, I'm fine."

Bruce nodded, seemingly unaffected by Tony's harsh tone "I understand, I'm going to _continue_ my conversation with the staff in trying to get you two dispatched to at least our own med bay." And with that he left the room.

Tony looked down at the boy's sleeping form and sighed "What am I going to do with you, hm?" He ruffled the kid's hair before pulling out his phone and scrolling through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up kind of a filler, I was kind of trying to work through a streak of no inspiration. Also the scene with the fever probably makes no sense but shh it's 12 AM.


	7. Weaknesses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set a few months after the events of the last chapter because inspiration went out the window. Tony took Peter out on a mission because they needed all the help they could get, as per usual something went wrong.

**Peter's POV**

Red lights flashes as an alarm blared throughout the compound, Peter bolted from his room whilst still pulling his suit over his torso. It was becoming a tradition that during mission alerts Peter would go to the meeting room fully suited up and ready to help but completely prepared to be turned down because it's "Too dangerous for a child." As Tony always put it. He always still got ready just in case.

He slowed his pace as he drew closer to the door, opening it just as he pressed the spider emblem on his chest. Everyone was in there, clad in weapons and suits just as usual, but something seemed off. It was immediately clear that the atmosphere was tense; Tony, who was stood at the end of the room, looked concerned. "Alright team, this was supposed to be a normal mission but someone had to fuck it up. We've tracked down a undercover company run by a man named Adrien Toomes, recently escaped from prison, which is attempting to target Stark Industries. Originally we just sent in some agents but we've been alerted that Toomes is holding some of them hostage and they have called for back up."

Mr Stark glanced around the room before his eyes zeroed in on Peter himself, he looked like he was about to say something directly to the boy before he shook his head and changed his attention "We need all hands on deck," he looked at Peter again and saw the kid's eyes light up, he continued "Yes even you."

Mr Rogers stepped up beside Mr Stark and crossed his arms "We're going to load up onto the quin jet so make sure you have everything you need because we are not turning back unless it is an emergency." 

Peter expected a glare to Mr Rogers from Mr Stark for speaking for him but instead Mr Stark nodded along and patted the other man on the shoulder before walking forwards. He made his way towards Peter and pulled him aside.

"Listen, kid. There's no easy way to do this mission so I can't exactly put you on a simple job but please, don't go running off alone and try to listen to orders. I don't want you getting hurt." Tony bent down ever so slightly to reach Peter's height, the Iron suit making him slightly taller than he already was. "I'm counting on you, kiddo."

Just hearing those last words made Peter smile,"You got it, sir!" He nodded enthusiastically before pulling on his mask and following the other Avengers out of the room. This was a serious mission but he couldn't help the bounce in his step as he got more and more excited. 

"You can call me-" But Peter had already sped off, leaving Tony alone in the room with a faint smile on his face. 

*******

Mr Rogers went over the plan one last time before releasing everyone out of the jet. No one said a word to each other, just found their ways to the designated areas. Peter was paired with Bruce Banner and (all fangirling aside) they made their way to the back of the building together, trying to find a way in that wouldn't alert anyone who was inside. It didn't take long seeing as both of them could either pick locks or break them.

Peter immediately jumped onto the ceiling. Their plan was if someone saw Bruce walking down the corridor, they would be too fixated on taking him down to notice Spiderman crawling on the ceiling as back up. They weren't planning on Bruce getting caught at all but it was just in case.

They made their way around the deserted building, Peter had been expecting packs of armed men around every corner but everything seemed quiet and abandoned. Every step he took was met with an eerie echo that bounced off of the walls. Every scuff of Bruce's trainers felt like needles to his ears. A penny dropping would sound like thunder.

It wasn't a comfortable silence either. Peter's Spidey-Senses would not stop throbbing in the back of his head. Thinking about his Spidey-Senses made his heart twist, May always used to call them his 'Peter Tingles' and no matter how weird the name was, it was comforting to know that May could joke about his powers.

This wasn't the time to be sad about May's death, he needed to be on the look out. He couldn't be certain how quickly Bruce could go from normal Banner to Hulk. 

The same pattern of walking/crawling down the corridor continued, occasionally turning a corner and tensing up in case there was someone there, that was until Peter's spidey-senses screamed at him and he barely had a second to drop down from the ceiling and push Bruce through a doorway before white gas burst down from the ceiling and swept it's way around them. An alarm blared and lights flashed red.

It wasn't long before Peter could no longer see Bruce in front of him, nor could he see his own hand. He clutched tightly onto Bruce's shirt, not letting go in case somehow they got separated. 

Not only did the gas smell awful but it tickled the back of his throat just like an annoying cold would, he coughed relentlessly into the nook of his elbow and could just about hear Bruce doing the same.

Peter's limbs started to feel heavy, like he had run a marathon and was experiencing the aftermath; It was getting harder to breathe; his vision got blurry, not in the dizzying kind but more as the 'Genuinely can't see' kind; His spidey-sense stopped yelling at him all of a sudden.

He felt weak, useless.

Black spots danced across his vision, replacing the swirling white of the gas. His hand slackened on Bruce's shirt as Peter stumbled over, landing far from gracefully on his knees. "Peter stay awake.." Bruce slurred before he too fell over, the sound of his skull hitting the floor echoed in Peter's ears. 

He tried so desperately to stay conscious, someone could easily be making their way through this fog and towards them yet neither of them would know. He felt himself slump onto his side and shuffled in what he hoped was still Bruce's general direction. He felt his arms drape feebly over Bruce before his eyes finally shut with exhaustion and he fell limp.

*******

When Peter next woke up, he opened his eyes drearily and started at a blurry ceiling. _Where am I?, Why is everything so fuzzy, did something happen?_ Then everything came flooding back to him and he sluggishly pushed himself up. There were faint wisps of white gas floating around him but otherwise all of it had mostly disappeared. He turned to Bruce and hurriedly checked his pulse and breathing. 

Everything seemed to be fine, he was just unconscious. Peter tried to exhale the breath he didn't realise he was holding but it came out more as a vague wheeze. He placed his hand on his chest and continued attempting to breathe but he only got the same reaction.

He would have panicked and focused on just that if it wasn't for a whistling noise outside of the room he had pulled the two of them into. He looked down at Bruce and contemplated for a second before making his decision, "Sorry Dr Banner." He whispered before awkwardly trying to stand up, pushing off from a cabinet to get himself walking.

The whistling bounced eerily off of the walls, making it unclear where it was coming from. What Peter really didn't like about it was that his spidey-sense didn't even meekly buzz. 

Peter took one last glance at Bruce before taking off down the corridor, trying to follow the whistle. Occasionally his vision tilted or he tripped over his own feet, the effects of passing out were taking longer to fade away than usual. His sight was still blurry and he was still finding it hard to breathe properly but he just assumed those were also effects of the gas.

_"Here Pete.. Come get me...."_

The familiarity of that voice made Peter uneasy but he followed it regardless, nothing was warning him not to besides the seemingly bottomless pit in his stomach.

_"Do you not trust your old pal?" _

Peter gritted his teeth as realisation dawned on him. Mr Stark.. Or was it Mr Rogers? Had mentioned something about Adrien Toomes, stupid Peter had been too buzzed about being allowed on a mission to even care. Shivers wracked his frame, his own foot shaking as he took another step forward. Toomes had dropped a building on top of him without care, there was no doubting what the man could do if he really tried.

_"I'm sure Mr Stark would say hi, that is.. If he could speak.." _ A low chuckle followed the sinister sentence.

Peter visibly paled at that, he couldn't help himself when he finally yelled out "Where is Mister Stark? He hasn't done anything to you!" He felt his breathing quicken, wheezes getting more audible and painful.

_"So that's where you are... Come on Petey, you really think this is just about you?"_

He picked up his pace to a jog. He didn't know if he was angry or scared or both "What on earth are you talking about? You pitched a fight with Mister Stark when you stole from him! Before then he had nothing to do with you!"

_"It's amusing how well you think you know the man, how much faith you put into him."_

"Mister Stark wouldn't lie to me.." Peter's voice cracked. He wasn't even sure if he believed the words coming out of his own mouth.

_"But he has before, hasn't he?"_

He stopped, the sole of his suit scuffing the ground. "Stop it. Stop putting thoughts into my head. Mister Stark is a good man!"

_"If he was so good, why would he take the suit off of you? Put you in direct danger for his own selfishness. He clearly didn't know you if he didn't think you'd go off without the suit."_

"You were the one who dropped a building on top of me!"

_"Minor things, Kiddo."_

He couldn't breathe, his breaths coming out as shaky gasps. He had forgotten about that problem until now. A loud beep sounded in his ear and another voice immediately started talking frantically "Kid, are you there? Friday couldn't connect us to Karen and we couldn't find you. Are you and Bruce okay?"

_"Don't listen to him, Petey, he doesn't care."_

Peter wrenched his mask off and threw it down the hallway "Shut up, Shut up! SHUT UP!" He sunk to his knees and covered his ears. 

_"I'm only trying to help you."_

"No!" His voice cracked again "No you're not-" He doubled over and wheezed, his voice no longer cooperating. "Sto.." the P ended up silent as another wheeze stole his breath. Tears poured freely down his cheeks.

_"Took you long enough." _The voice no longer sounded sincere and definitely sounded closer. Footsteps reverberated down the halls as someone neared Peter.

"Did you forget you had asthma before the bite? Pretty sure you had glasses too. Or did you somehow not notice the disabilities when you woke up?" Toomes appeared in the distance. "God you're even more stupid than Rogers and he figured it out in a few minutes, Barnes having to help him through an asthma attack."

One hand on the ground, one on his chest, Peter desperately tried to force air into his lungs. Every time he tried to look up at Toomes, his already blurry vision tilted to the side. How could he be so stupid? He fell right into the man's hands.

He didn't notice Toomes getting closer until he kicked the hand that was keeping Peter from landing on his face. Too focused on breathing, Peter didn't even try to catch himself, just letting himself fall.

"Honestly, I even feel slightly bad about this. I wouldn't have to do it if you'd just give up trusting that Stark man." Toomes rolled Peter over with his foot before placing a well aimed boot right on his chest and pushing down. 

Peter's eyes widened when he realised he wasn't getting any air into his lungs anymore, he gripped frantically at the man's boot but to no avail, he just pressed down harder. 

A loud crack resonated around them and Toomes grinned manically from above him "I truly am sorry, Kiddo." Metal wings, similar to the ones that exploded before, ripped themselves a hole through the ceiling and many levels above it before connecting to Toomes' back. 

Three more cracks were heard as the man pushed off from the ground/Peter's chest and rose into the air "You're just in the way." He soared down the corridor and knocked out about two pillars before the blurriness of Peter's vision stopped him from seeing any more but from the sound of it Toomes had knocked out a few more and burst through a wall. 

All he could do was stare at the ceiling, still wheezing as he heard the building coming down around him. He was frozen to the spot in.. Fear? Shock? Pain?

A few pieces of rubble fell close to him and he closed his eyes, preparing for impact. 

He didn't even feel the pain as something hit his head before he was knocked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on leaving this on a cliff hanger but hey, if you're not already tortured by my shit writing then you can be tortured by not knowing what happens :)


End file.
